The literacy and numeracy skills of students across the country aren’t improving, with NAPLAN test results plateauing, the latest summary data shows.
The writing skills of year 7 and 9 students are of particular concern, with a significant decrease in test results since 2011, the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, Robert Randall said.
“We are concerned that, on a national level, the results have shown no significant improvement across the domains and year levels from 2015," Mr Randall said.
“Plateauing results are not what we should expect or assume from our education systems.”
Students sat the NAPLAN test in May this year and were examined on the key areas of reading, spelling, grammar and punctuation, numeracy and writing. The national results show that from 2015 to 2016, there has been no significant change in literacy and numeracy results.
“Literacy and numeracy are the foundations of learning in and beyond school,” Mr Randall said.
“Literacy and numeracy achievement needs to improve to ensure the wellbeing of individual students and the country as a whole.”
NAPLAN testing began in 2008 and, since then, there have been significant improvements across a range of domains.
Queensland and Western Australia have shown greater improvement than any of the other states or territories.
Year 3 students in Queensland recorded significant improvements in their reading and spelling, while Western Australia’s year 3 cohort improved its numeracy skills, significantly increasing its mean scale score from 2008.
This result is in stark contrast with the trend of the last few years that has seen results plateauing, with writing skills not improving or getting worse in every state except for in South Australia. Year 3 students there were the only ones with better results.
Minister for Education and Training Simon Birmingham said the plateauing results are “not good enough,” and has called on schools, families and education experts to focus on “evidence-based measures” in order to lift student achievement.
Commonwealth funding has increased by 23.7 per cent since 2013, yet the average percentage change in NAPLAN mean scale scores during the same time period have only improved by less than two per cent in reading and numeracy, and has decreased by 0.20 in writing.
Australia is dramatically over investing in schools with advantaged students and still under-investing in schools that enrol the stragglers. Unless we pick up those schools, unless we lift those schools, we’re not going to lift student achievement and we’re not going to lift the country.
Students will receive their individual reports in a few weeks and more detailed NAPLAN data will become available later in the year. As the test moves online next year, the current three-month turn around for results is expected to shorten to just a matter of weeks.
